The issue of copyright control and monitoring has become increasingly important with the advent of the internet. Institutions such as schools and businesses often depend on access to the information that is contained in copyrighted works, but also want to avoid any situations where copyright abuse could be claimed.
A law commonly known as the fair-use principle, is used in most of the world's legal systems. It allows the general public to use and quote copyrighted material in limited situations and under certain circumstances. A problem exists in that many users do not understand the bounds and restrictions of these terms of use and many institutions and companies risk exposure to copyright law when individuals within the organisation use copyrighted material.
Attempts have been made in the past to try and automate this process, however they have been unsuccessful. Typically a user must purchase a work before being able to read it.
However fair-use principles dictate that a person can expect reasonable access to a work free of charge for the purpose of evaluation before committing to a purchase. This often leads to a situation where copies of copyrighted works are shared for evaluation but either intentionally or inadvertently that copy is never paid for even after fair-use bounds are exceeded. A system that helps users to ensure that their use and copying of copyrighted materials, are properly documented, authorised and paid for is highly desirable, but as yet are not available.
The described invention is designed to address these issues.